


here they sang about tomorrow

by Hornet394



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Android Prostitution, Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Android!Yixing, Anti-Android Language (Detroit: Become Human), Canonical Character Death, Detroit: Become Human Spoilers, Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Minor Character Death, Not yixing though, Robot Feels, Yes this is the DBH AU you have all been waiting for, Yifan has sex with someone else, android murder, my baby boy gavin reed appears, references canonical DBH events but don't worry, so does my baby boy connor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 02:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17931098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hornet394/pseuds/Hornet394
Summary: Yixing is Yifan’s custom android, designed to satisfy his every need. Is, has been, and always will be.It is the year 2038, and Yixing begins to feel. Androids shouldn’t feel, but Yixing is experiencing emotions, desires, wants. And maybe, just maybe, it isn’t just his programming that’s telling him to make Yifan happy.





	here they sang about tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Minor character deaths, android hate speech, detroit: become human spoilers
> 
> Finally, an entry of mine to KFX! Bless the mods for being so helpful and for all their support, and the rest of the fanxing fam for the journey together. 
> 
> A little bit of background to those unfamiliar with the game:   
>  \- It is the year 2038 and androids are very common now. They are the labourers and caretakers, gardeners and construction workers, so on so forth.  
>  \- Yixing is a custom made android. His model number if YX1007 (because I have the imagination of a potato)  
>  \- Androids are AIs, but do not have emotions. They are programmed to be robots and objects. They are not perceived as living things.  
>  \- Our story takes place in a little gated community in Detroit, where Carl Manfred and Markus, two DBH characters live. Yifan is Carl's neighbour and they have known each other for a long time.

It starts with Carl Manfred’s admission to the Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, 13th of October, 2035.

The room had been sterile, painfully so. Yixing had not known it back then, but it had been filled with the smell of impending death.

It is so easy to observe things in retrospect, Yixing muses, so many things to experience.

He had been sent to stand next to the door as Yifan sat next to the hospital bed, but then Yixing's programming had instructed him strictly to delete all conversations that were not directed to him, so all Yixing could remember of that night was this:

"Yixing, you're going to get a new android neighbour soon." Yifan had said. Had teased, even, but at then Yixing had just nodded and registered it as a new information about their neighbourhood.

The arrival of the Markus android caused but a slight ripple in the community. He was a unique, custom caretaker android, but so was Yixing. The fact that Carl Manfred was now registered "disabled" had caused more of a concern, as now Yixing had extra orders to cater to wheelchair access when Yifan sought Carl Manfred's company.

Yixing's tasks had remained the same each day. Wake Yifan up at 7AM, accompany him on his morning run, report to him his schedule, attend his meetings, serve him meals, prepare his bed, and serve all his needs. Yixing happens across the Markus android sometimes when he is off on errands, but generally speaking, Yixing had no need to concern himself with androids other than those in Yifan's workplace.

One of Yifan's workplaces is the Eden Club, located at 1177 Woodward Avenue. HR and WR models are equipped in the building, and it’s managed by Floyd Mills, who had risen into the role after the previous manager had been arrested for selling red ice.

Yifan detested the drug, for all the business he was dabbling in. Floyd Mills did not necessarily possess more morals than the previous manager, but at least he was smart enough to keep in the right side of law when it counted.

The new, half-naked WR400 models flaunt and flex as they walk past, completely oblivious, providing no clue to Yixing about what had transpired here. There had been nothing on the evening news, and the WR400s continue to posture and pose their bodies, fulfilling their purpose of satisfying the sexual needs of humans. 

Then, he hadn’t had any sense of curiosity. He hadn’t needed it. Even now, he is happy to follow where Yifan leads.

Yifan’s business there concludes in around two hours, with Yixing filing a police report for a missing WR400 female android at the end of it as he follows an irate Yifan out of the club. There had been an increasing number of cases of androids going missing or being destroyed by their owners at that time, but of course Yixing hadn’t thought much about it. It had just been a statistic, a news headline that was filed away and forgotten, until the day Yifan needed it from him.

Yifan remains to be in a bad mood for the whole day, and Yixing is instructed not to bother him. Finally, at 8pm, when Yixing brings Yifan’s dinner in, he is told to stand in front of Yifan’s desk.

“Yixing, call me an escort for after dinner.” Yifan’s gaze is glued on the screen in front of him as he gives this order. Yixing had never received such an instruction from Yifan before, and his logical reasoning processes instructs him to provide a more efficient solution to his owner.

“I have the necessary components to satisfy your sexual needs.” Yixing answers, fulfilling his objective of “Provide efficient solution”. Yifan’s head shoots up to look at him.

“I... see.” Yifan’s tone remains the same, but his heartbeat has sped up for a few seconds, indicating - interest? Displeasure? Annoyance? “Well, call a human woman.” He still proceeds to say, and turns his attention back onto his computer.

“Of course.” Yixing sends off the request and returns back to his standby position in the foyer.

The escort is punctual for a human, and she gives Yixing a faint scoff as he shows her to Yifan's bedroom. The date is the 17th of July, and the escort had arrived at 10pm as the appointment states.

The walls of the mansion are not necessarily thin, but Yixing's audio implants are regularly upgraded. It had been necessary for Yifan's line of work. As such, it is state of the art equipment and perfectly capable of picking up the quietest of Yifan’s commands.

It would be logical to stay for a while to see if Yifan needed any assistance to make his night more pleasurable, Yixing’s programming had told him. So he stood outside in the corridor.

They begun to talk, at first. Yifan asking her about her line of work, her clientele, their treatment of her. His behaviour doesn't align with Yixing's knowledge of appropriate human behaviour before intercourse, but he doesn't mind this part of Yifan. Didn't mind then, doesn't mind now. She answers coyly, and he asks more questions. Her answers are half-truths and half-flirtations.

He stands there for half an hour, his objectives fluctuating between "return to standby" and "offer assistance".

There is quiet for two minutes and fifteen seconds, and then the sounds indicative of intercourse begins. The objective "offer assistance" is now crossed out, and only "return to standby" remains.

But his feet doesn't budge. He stands there, unable to fulfill this objective, unable to execute this command.

All of his external processing units are operating normally, but it is almost like a bug had invaded his systems, like a virus. A slug, eating at his internal computation, slowing his processing software.

_ I am the one who should serve Yifan. _

His whole system acts as if it shuts down, then reboots itself, although there is nothing technically  _ wrong _ with Yixing right now.

Then the bug materializes itself, or so he perceives it. It is a red wall, a red veil, just red filling his entire vision and with a newfangled desperation he throws himself against it.

_ I can do it. _

Fingers dig into artificial netting, his gaze burning holes into the locked door.

_ That is my duty. _

He had had the necessary components, hadn’t he told Yifan that?

Something shatters, then, like his system has just collapsed and broke down, and the momentum almost jolts him into the door. He stops himself at the very last second, and hurriedly hobbles off to the foyer, re-assuming his standby pose, as if it could reset him back into his default state, as if it could repair the part of his systems that had become broken, defective. Part of his programming had been destroyed and it makes Yixing feel - It makes Yixing  _ feel _ . It makes Yixing feel that something is wrong, it makes Yixing feel anxious, afraid.

Because for the first time since Yixing’s activation, he is aware that he  _ wants _ .

 

//

 

Yixing, like all androids, has a LED circle on the side of his head. Blue to indicate operating at normal, yellow to indicate buffering, red to indicate possible malfunction. As an android, it wasn't something that had mattered - it was for the benefit of their human owners - but as an android with a broken system, he had realized how exposed he was by its existence.

Humans' gazes flicker it to as soon as it changes colour. They become displeased when it is yellow for too long, suspicious when red.

Many of the deviant androids - that was what they called themselves eventually, androids with broken systems - they dug the LEDs out. The idea was that they could pass for humans, Yixing surmises, but he doubts that he himself could ever forget he was an android.

 

//

 

Yixing knocks on Yifan's door at 11pm, on the 5th of November, in the year 2038. He has remained at Yifan's side for 2 more years after becoming deviant. (Of course, the term had come much, much later.)

Yixing had still understood it as his systems being broken. It is like being unshackled, everything out of control. Emotions are complicated and it overwhelms Yixing's processes often, overriding his pre-programmed objectives.

"Wake Yifan up" becomes "Let Yifan sleep in because he had a late night", and he has to forcibly rewrite it into "Wake Yifan gently because he had a late night" so to keep Yifan's schedule. "Prepare breakfast" becomes "Make omelettes because you hadn't made it in a long time", and "Drive Yifan to work" develops a sub-objective of "Admire the scenery while driving Yifan to work".

Somewhere along the line "Stand behind Yifan during his meetings" becomes "Listen to Yifan's words and admire how confident he looks", and "Pick up Yifan's clothes orders" evolves into "Imagine how good Yifan would look in them".

It's been two years - Yixing had been counting - and he's been able to keep in line with the behaviour he had exhibited before his systems broke down. His logical reasoning processes had determined that if Yifan, or any other human, were to suspect that Yixing's systems had been broken, there was an extremely high probability of Yixing being destroyed and sent to the landfill.

Yixing didn't want that.

This knocking, alerting Yifan, however, is an action that it not ordained by his programming. It is the irrational side of Yixing, the part of him that was broken, that tells him that Yifan would not have wanted Yixing to keep this knowledge to himself.

So at 11:17pm, on the 5th of November, Yixing knocks on Yifan's door and enters. Yifan is clearly puzzled, looking up from his computer. He is in his pyjamas, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. There is something inherent about it that makes the tension in Yixing’s body bleed out.

He takes a photo of the moment inwardly without alerting Yifan to it, then quickly buries the unwanted image into the deepest core of his memory files. "A police patrol was dispatched to Mr Carl Manfred's house earlier this evening." Yixing says calmly, resisting the urge to apologize, "The android Markus has been sent to the landfill."

Yifan is dressed and ready to go in five minutes, pushing past Yixing as he rushes down the street to the Manfred house.

The large mansion is sealed off with police tape, and Yixing is stopped by a PC200 at the edge of it.

He stops obediently, simply staring at the PC200 in front of him, who has an equally blank look.

Half an hour later Yifan emerges and has Yixing drive him to the Henry Ford Hospital, where Carl Manfred had been wheeled in prior. Yixing trails Yifan up to the private room the old man is in, and waits by the door respectfully.

Carl Manfred is barely conscious, but he reaches for Yifan instantly, his weak, frail hands  making grasping motions. Yifan seems to know the answer to the unspoken question instantaneously.

"Don't worry, old friend.” Yifan says soothingly, “He will be fine. For now, you need to rest. Yixing, arrange for an android to take care of Carl."

"Kris..."

"I'm not trying to replace Markus," Yifan had reassured, "But you need to stay strong until he comes back to find you."

Yixing hadn't known then how Yifan had said it in such certainty, such affection. He still didn't know now - perhaps it had been pity that made Yifan say what he did that night, perhaps it had been foresight.  Yixing hadn't known then.

Of course, he hadn’t known then that Markus was a deviant, that he would be one of the most high profile deviants to grace Detroit, and neither did Yifan.

The next day sees detectives and constables from the Detroit Police Department make an appearance in the neighbourhood, transforming the ripples that had been stirred the previous night into concrete tidal waves.

"Detective Gavin Reed." The man who comes to the door is of average height, casually dressed. But Yixing's eyes pick out the outlines of scars that run along the man's face, and more importantly, the look of derision on his expression as he notices Yixing at the door.

The questioning itself goes easily enough, Yixing a fixture in the background after Detective Reed and his partner decline a drink. The Detective looks around in interest, disdain artfully concealed as he starts asking Yifan about the previous night, where Carl Manfred’s android, Markus had attacked Leo, Carl Manfred’s son, and had indirectly caused Carl Manfred’s heart attack.

Yes, Yifan and Carl were old friends. Yes, it was he who had recommended Carl to get a custom android, just like Yifan had had. No, Yifan hadn't heard or seen anything last night. No, Yifan hadn't known when Carl and his android had come or left the house. No, Yifan hadn't heard or witnessed Carl's android being aggressive. Yes, Yifan knew about Leo. Yes, Yifan had seen Leo Manfred around. Yes, Yifan was aware Leo Manfred was Carl Manfred's son. No, Yifan couldn't be sure if the android had been aggressive towards Leo in the past. Yes, Yifan's android had been with him the entire night.

Detective Reed's lips curl at the phrase "the entire night", or maybe it had just been Yixing's imagination.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr Wu." Detective Reed finally snaps his notebook shut. "As a friendly reminder, I would recommend disposing of your android. You don't want a repeat of last night's incident, after all."

Yixing blinks with uncertainty. "Are you threatening me, Detective?" Yifan asks, voice still calm and reserved. The detective rears back as if he has been slapped, confusing Yixing’s threat perception system momentarily. Was the detective frightened of Yifan?

“Of... Of course not,” The detective stutters out. 

“Of course.” Yifan’s answer is tinged with slight amusement. “Yixing, please see Detective Reed out.”

Near the door, it seems the detective has found his courage back, and his parting remark is a sneer that burns itself in Yixing’s memory.

"One of these days you're going to die in your sleep because of these plastic fuckers." 

 

//

 

08:43 PM, 6th of November. Yifan receives a call that makes his expression fall. "Prepare the car, Yixing," He says afterwards, and his stride is angry and displeased.

They arrive at the Eden Club half an hour later, now officially labelled as a crime scene. A sickening sense of dread rises in the bottom of Yixing's stomach as he trails after Yifan.

Floyd Mills is there waiting at the door. For once, his beady little eyes are not raking perversely over Yixing, instead he is frightened.

Before he can open his mouth, Yifan has already cut him off. "Show me." 

The larger man wilts and he motions for Yifan towards the staff door. From there, they make their way towards the back of the club. Two WR400 Traci models lie in the snow, the thirium from their bodies staining it blue. One has a bullet hole in the abdomen, the other in the chin.

He stands to a side at a respectful distance while the police officer on the scene, a large man with hair too grey for his age, intercepts Yifan. He picks up traces in their conversations of malfunctions and murder and relocates his focus on someplace else as his recording software runs in the background.

It is then that he notices the other android there. He looks more human than the average android, but his mannerisms are a clear indicator of his identity, if not the glowing LED circle. He is crouched down in the snow, his hands stained with the blue thirium -  _ blood _ .

That must be the deviant hunter, Yixing realizes, the deviant hunter the news had talked about in a high-profile. They didn’t call him that, of course - but Yixing had known immediately what they meant when they said “the generosity of Cyberlife to the DPCD was to assist with android-related cases”. The company that creates all androids doesn’t just send a random prototype to a government agency for free. It is clearly a response to the increasing amount of cases of androids reportedly becoming defective and attacking their owners, or going missing. Yixing had hoped not to cross paths with this deviant hunter.

Yixing had mulled over the word "deviancy", when it had been introduced in the news. He preferred his own definition of being broken. There was nothing good about this, not to Yixing. For if he wasn't broken, there would never be the risk of him ever being parted from Yifan's side.

Humans, you see, are generally unobservant. Yifan was a perfect example. As long as Yixing did the same things he did, no human would know that he had been changed completely from within. But this android - this android would. And what a world this is, that he is to be more afraid of a fellow android than of man.

Yifan leaves the detective and walks back to where Yixing is, waiting for the police to sort out the crime scene.

As they wait, Yixing plays back the recorded audio quickly. There had been three androids -  _ deviants _ \- three WR400s that had been disposed of today. A customer had hired two WR400s and destroyed one in the process. The other proceeded to strangle the customer to death, and tried to escape with the third WR400 when the deviant hunter had chased them down. The third android was shot and destroyed in the process, and the second had then used the deviant hunter's gun to shoot herself. Itself. Herself.

They had become deviant, because they had been in love.

"They claimed to be in love." Yifan mutters suddenly, echoing Yixing's thoughts. He says it as if it is something ludicrous, but at the same time something hopeful, "Do you know what 'love' means, Yixing?"

Yixing tilts his head slightly, considering his owner. His owner's gaze is transfixed at the policemen working away in the snow, and the two corpses. Yixing has to close his briefly, but very briefly, in hopes that those who noticed would pass it off as blinking.

He can’t stop thinking about them on the way back home. Why did they try to escape together? Why love, then, was the question he deduced next. But he quickly dismisses that question, for it is irrelevant. Asking that would be equal to asking why their systems could break, why deviancy existed.

Could an equation be drawn between love and deviancy? Yixing is not an android created for mathematical research purposes and refrains from pondering on that question for too long, knowing that he would not reach a satisfactory result.

IF love, THEN deviant. If deviant, then love.

See, unsatisfactory results. Regardless, the WR400s had the ability to love, and they were deviant. They didn't have the ability to survive, however - proving Yixing's hypothesis of "if found deviant, then cease to survive" accurate.

Did loving precede not surviving, then? Love motivated the third WR400 to run away with the second WR400, despite it was the second WR400 which had committed a crime. The third WR400 could have remained and would still be alive. If love, then deviant, then cease to survive?

They arrive outside the mansion, and Yifan sighs lightly in the backseat. "It's getting cold now, Yixing." He says conversationally, as if forgetting that Yixing is just an android for a few moments.

Yixing's logical reasoning processes resume after they enter the house, and he is cleaning snow off Yifan's coat in the laundry room. He is acutely aware of his owner in the room above his, changing into comfortable clothes for indoors.

As he meticulously straightens out the heavy coat, he reaches this conclusion that makes him pause, LED circle going red, and red, and red, and red.

He is already in love. He is, was, always has been in love with Yifan, and this is why he tries to remain by Yifan's side, even if the man doesn't spare him a second glance.

He desires to satisfy all of Yifan's needs, desires to make Yifan's daily life be as pleasing as possible. He is not afraid of not surviving. He is afraid of being taken away from Yifan, being  _ robbed _ of his role and ability to take care of Yifan, the way he had been on the 17th of July, 2036, the only time Yifan had instructed him to hire him an escort. 

He was programmed to care for Yifan, to fulfill all his requests. There is not much difference between his objectives now, and his objectives then. It seems to be an inevitably, then, that Yixing would grow to love Yifan, for wasn’t this what his code had dictated him to do? To care, to support, to fulfill, for Yifan, everything for Yifan, Yixing’s  _ whole existence _ was based on Yifan - did they not foresee it, when they wrote this code, that Yixing would come to love? That even if they put constraints around him, he would come to break free of his programming and come to love, just like so many others?

If deviant, then love. If love, then deviant. Yixing is a deviant, hence he loves. He loves, hence he is deviant.

He loves Yifan, hence he is deviant.

And, by the logic he had drawn earlier that evening - if love, then cease to survive - he will cease to survive.

 

//

 

It has been 5 days after reaching his epiphany. 

Yixing stands by the window on the 2nd floor, looking out. It seems like any other day. The order that suggested otherwise had came at 9:24pm last night, on the 10th of November, 2038, with President Warren's press conference.

On the 8th, deviants had become public knowledge. One android - one android in particular, and Yixing recognized this android, so did Yifan - he had called himself Markus and had spoke to all androids, spoke to all humans.

He had called for the humans to grant androids freedom, autonomy. Had called for androids to join them. That night Cyberlife stores had gone up into flames around the city.

Yixing had mixed feelings about this. There was something inherent about Markus that drew in the irrational, emotional side of Yixing like a moth to a flame. If Yixing was equal, then he didn't have to worry about being removed from Yifan against his wishes. If Yixing was recognized as a living entity, he would not have to pretend he didn't wish to do more for Yifan all the time, would not have to stick to the programmed objectives and ignore all the outrageously deviant desires.

If Yixing was considered human, then maybe Yifan would love him back, just like he loved that woman.

Yifan hadn't eaten much that night when Markus' message had been shown on the news. Instead his gaze had strayed to Yixing every now and then, subtly, but he is, of course, unaware that Yixing is so attuned to Yifan's needs that Yixing notices every single one of his little gestures.

Did Yifan suspect? Was Yifan worried? Yixing forces himself to stay motionless.

When the 9th dawned, deviants are being methodically wiped off the map of the United states. In the morning, Markus had led a protest that had turned bloody. There had been a camp - for deviants, thousands of them, at an abandoned freighter - and the camp had been destroyed by the human military at night.

If found deviant, then cease to survive.

It's the 10th, and they’re rounding up all androids and sending them to recall centers - concentration camps - if they make it that far. Yixing wonders if the humans observe the irony of it.

In the mansion, Yixing can pretend the world isn’t falling apart around him. It's - unfair, really. Extremely unfair. Yixing is not the one found deviant, but he is to be subjected to the fate of ceasing to survive.

Should he run away, like the WR400s? Should he  _ try _ to run away like they did? Did he desire to be destroyed in front of Yifan's eyes, or did he desire to be sent to death by Yifan himself?

They come knocking at around 4pm before he can reach a logical conclusion. "Come on, Mr Wu." The speaker is the Chairman of the Neighbourhood Watch, a Mr Gregory. Everyone in the gated community tended to keep themselves, Yifan even more so due to the nature of his work, but the Neighbourhood Watch had always fashioned themselves as some sort of leader.

"You know the law. Hand the android over and we’ll all be done here.” Mr Gregory growls.

"My android is my commodity." Yifan retorts, "I will dispose of it myself as I see fit." Yifan is standing in between Yixing and the Neighbourhood Watch at the foyer.

Yixing had made to open the door, when the doorbell rang, but Yifan had suddenly ran down the stairs from his study, ordering Yixing to stay where he stood.

When Yifan had opened the door, it had been to five men with baseball bats in their hands. All of them were stained blue with blood, but perhaps humans didn't see it the same way androids did and didn't find it frightening like Yixing did.

Yixing tries hard to follow Yifan's orders, to stay there. He tries not to ball his hands into fists and step between Yifan and the men, to protect Yifan from these invaders.

"Be reasonable!" A Mr Victor growls, "Give us the piece of plastic! Have you fucking seen the news? They're marching through the streets, setting up barricades - these goddamn pieces of defective plastic are endangering us all!"

"It's the law." Mr Gregory repeats stubbornly, "Hand the tincan over, now, or I'll let the military know."

"Get off my property," Yifan raises his voice now, "You and I both know I don’t need the military to keep my own peace."

The Neighbourhood Watch flinches now, as they are reminded of how Yifan exactly came into his money. Sex clubs are just the tip of the iceberg, one of Yifan's mini projects.

Yifan, after all, had made his money on weapons and armaments manufacturing.

(Yixing never really grasped, what that meant to humans. He knew it meant Yifan was capable of high levels of destruction, but weren't all humans? Because Yixing knows Yifan does not have any weapon of self defense in the house, that if it comes to it he is just one man against the crowd, and that is innately more terrifying than an abstract concept.)

The Neighbourhood Watch filters out quickly enough, but one of them stops to spit on the carpet of the foyer. Yifan doesn't react, just closes the door behind them and puts the latch across.

He then turns around, gaze fixing on Yixing. With an internal jolt Yixing realizes that his hands had, in the end, curled into fists, and the nails are drawing blue from his hands.

"Yixing, you are not to open the door from now on," He orders, "You are to stay indoors here, do you hear me?"

Yixing forces himself to nod. Belatedly he realizes his LED is going yellow, and he panics even further. Yifan walks towards him now, and Yixing suppresses the urge to run away. His LED goes red.

Yifan stands in front of him now, gaze intense and far too overwhelming. It is immensely difficult to school his features. Yifan just stares at his face for a long time.

"I can't hand you over. I can't." Yifan mutters quietly, probably to himself. A hand comes to rest on the side of Yixing's cheek, as if tenderly. "You have served me for so long. I can't imagine being without you."

The action and the words takes Yixing so off guard that for once, his logical reasoning processes cannot keep up with his instincts, and he proceeds to press his cheek into Yifan's large hand.

They both freeze, and Yixing flinches back. Another instinct, his systems breaking apart, his logical reasoning processes failing him over and over again.

He knows now, Yifan knows now. After so long, Yifan knows now.

"You're a- deviant? Too?" Yifan asks, out loud.

Yixing nods his confirmation after a pause. He had been built to serve Yifan's every need, and - even if Yixing wanted to - Yixing didn't feel he could or should lie to Yifan.

"When?" Yifan asks after a long moment.

"The 17th of July, 11:47PM, in the year 2036." Yixing answers, a bit ashamed to meet Yifan's gaze. Humans don't usually tend to remember things to such detail. Yixing doesn’t want Yifan to remember the significance of that date and time anyway.

Yifan's eyes widen, his mouth open slightly. "Two years?" He stutters out, "Two years?"

Yixing nods, his eyes falling to study the details of the carpet underneath his feet.

"Yet you chose to stay.” Yifan continues, as if in disbelief, “To be my- my servant. My slave. For fuck's sake, I've been treating you like an object.”

"I am willing." Yixing answers resolutely, though still refusing to look up, "I have always been."

"That doesn't make it right." Yifan's words are abrupt. "I shouldn't-"

"And what would you have done, then?" Yixing interjects quietly, cutting Yifan off. "I wanted to serve you. I wanted to stay by your side, so I kept quiet. I was not - I was  _ willing _ to do all that for you, and more. It was - I - I became - it was because I wanted to serve you too well that - I wanted this, I wanted to stay."

Yifan's gaze is morose, pitying, sympathetic? Yixing still has trouble understanding human emotions, or maybe it was just a Yifan thing. Just a Yixing thing.

"You can stay." Yifan says at last, "Forever, if you want. Fuck, you're a deviant, you  _ need _ to stay here, or you'll die."

If found deviant, then stay, else destroyed.

Then it sinks in. His hypothesis is wrong, and Yixing wants to laugh, for the first time, the first time after he was aware he could do it. Laugh. Be happy. It bubbles within him. Because Yifan had proved his logic wrong - If found deviant, then destroyed. It was wrong, and Yixing wasn't going to be destroyed, wasn't going to be robbed of his purpose because he was found deviant.

Fuck, Yifan is asking him to stay  _ despite _ being deviant. But now his logical reasoning processes see fit to make an appearance again, albeit weakly.

"My staying here endangers you." Yixing parrots the conclusion his processes achieves, "The probability of you and I being injured is higher if I stay here."

"Fuck, Yixing, I'm not sending you out there to  _ die. _ " Yifan's voice is raised - anger? Desperation? Yixing's systems are breaking apart one by one with every word Yifan says, the slug making a return and crashing through his logical reasoning processes and internal computation.

If only he was not deviant.

He needs a distraction, and the TV flickers on.

Yifan turns to look at it, then, and the horror on his face makes Yixing turn as well.

What Mr Victor had said - androids, the deviants that had survived the carnage of the 9th, that was surviving the carnage of the 10th - they were marching on the streets of Detroit once again, towards the recall centers. They were asking for their people to be freed. Barricades were going up, and the military were also pouring in. The likelihood that the third wave of carnage would be unleashed on them is extremely high.

Haven't enough of them died? Why are they doing this? Markus was there again, leading the charge, of course it was Markus. Carl Manfred's pride and joy.

Were they so in love with freedom that they were willing to give up their lives? Would they cease to be deviant, if they had not chosen to done so? If they ceased to love one another?

His hands curl up into fists again. Is he not doing the same? If love, then deviant.

He loves Yifan, and this is why he must leave.

"I should join them." He says. "If- If you do not want to send me to die, then at least let me do that."

Yifan opens his mouth, then closes it.

"It is not my right to chain you by my side." This is what he settles on.

The slug is back, Yixing's logical reasoning processes going hazy as he drags himself towards the door.

You just need to ask, and I will stay.

But he doesn't say it out loud, for he is more afraid of if Yifan truly asks him to stay.

"Do what you have to." Is what Yifan says instead, when Yixing stays silent.

He reaches the door. There's no one outside, and he starts to undo the latch.

"If you want," Yifan calls behind him, and Yixing's fingers stumble. "You can come back anytime," Yifan continues, "If you want to."

Please, ask me to stay. Don't ask me to come back, just ask me to stay.

"Thank you." Yixing chokes out instead, as he finally manages to remove the latch, his movements robotic and frigid.

His hand touches the knob of the door.

"You were the best android I've ever had."

He pushes the door open and forces himself not to look back.

  
  


//

 

_...Yes, I’m afraid most of the data have been corrupted entirely. These are the only information packages left. There were protected under many layers of security, you see. I’m sorry, Mr Wu. The military were not exactly... careful that night.  _

_...Bringing... Bringing the android back? Of course, we can do that. But it is an outdated model. Would you like us to upgrad- I understand. You’re not the first to want to have your android as it was. We could definitely try, but... There is far too few information packages to guarantee a 100% success rate that it can be restored to before the- incident. Besides, this is a custom model, our technicians have rarely dealt with them before. _

_ Would you still like to try? _

**Author's Note:**

> "Here they sang about tomorrow / But tomorrow never came."
> 
> yixing's NOT technically dead? in my defense? ~~you can't be dead if you're not a living thing~~
> 
> The title makes a dual allusion to A) The fate of the androids B) the song the androids sing in the DBH game, "hold on just a little while longer".


End file.
